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The Story So Far
Preamble Each of our heroes find themselves in the bustling port of Waterdeep, The largest city in Western Faerun, and quite possibly the world. Each of them has their own reasons for being here, but all of them have booked passage on a ship heading for the southern kingdoms of Amn, Tethyr, and Calimshan; collectively known as the Lands of Intrigue. As they hear they board the ship, they see each other for the first time, eyeing up their fellow passengers. The ship slips out of the harbour, leaving behind the city and heading straight for open seas... Prologue Over the next few weeks, the party get to know each other, as well as the crew of their ship. They had been told before boarding that they would be expected to make themselves useful. As guests they don't work a full day, but they spend some time taking shifts on lookout, cooking, cleaning and performing odd jobs where they can, though most of their time is their own. They read, converse with the crew, and train to pass the time. About two weeks into their voyage, they have just rounded Cape Velen and they are sailing past a small island when a set of sails pops out behind it, heading straight for them and flying no colours. The watchkeeper in the crow's nest, who knows what this means, raise the alarm with a mighty cry: "PIRATES, off of the port quarter!" The crew races into position, alerting the party of the impending danger. They rush to prepare as the ship comes into range of the canons. They watch as the pirate ship launches a small fleet of 4 keelboats, which fly towards them at an unnaturally fast pace, and it becomes clear that while the crew are experienced sailors, they are not used to actually using the canons. The party joins the firing teams and manage to destroy a few of the boarding craft, but not before some of them make it to the ship, and scale the sides of the ship! While the party and the crew are fending off their attackers, the pirate mothership closes in, launching grappling hooks and gangplanks as it comes alongside. For a brief, shining moment, it looks as though the party will prevail - until, that is, a single well-placed (or just plain lucky) musket shot strikes Kademon, sending him crashing down from his firing position in the rigging. Despite Thralla taking out hoards of the crew with her war-hammer, she is eventually swarmed, and falls to an endless barrage of cutlasses. As this happens, Kathy and Jasper turn around to see the pirate captain, a monstrous half-dragon, leap down from his ship and blast their crew-mates with a heavy breath of fire. Both Kathy and Jasper are caught at the edge of the blast. As she goes down, the last thing Kathy sees is the face of the half-dragon leering down at her, while Jasper catches a glimpse of the flaming mast beginning to crack. After that, as the two slip in and out of consciousness, all they feel is a cold inky blackness, as they slowly sink down beneath the surface of the waves... Ch. 1 - Shipwrecked The gang regain consciousness on a remote beach, with waves lapping at their feet and their armour and possessions neatly piled next to them. They regroup, marvelling at their miraculous survival, and establish two things: they couldn't have made it on their own, and their magical items are missing. The most obvious clue to the former is that Thralla's heavy armour that would have otherwise caused her to drown has been removed and folded and placed neatly on the ground next to her before she regained conciousness. Someone, or something, rescued them from the sea and carried them to relative safety, removing their valuables as payment. The survivors decide to form a group and set off in search of civilisation. Thralla does some navigating. Jasper does some suspecting. Cathy and Caedmon try out 2009's hottest trend, planking. hitting someone (Caedmon) in the face with a plank Our heroes choose to head in land to find shelter as the sun sets. They make camp in an open clearing and take turns on watch. In the morning, as the sun begins to rise, Caedmon (who is on watch) hears some rustling in the bushes. Just as he wakes the party he sees two shark-like humanoids (later identified as Sahaugin) rush towards them! Despite the surprise, the group quickly uses their ranged attacks to dispatch the pair before they even get into melee range! Clearly this wasn't a deliberate strike... After a quick breakfast, (no-one had the sushi!) The party made their way along the beach. Ch. 2 - Temple of the Dragon Cult Ch. 3 - The Open Road To be continued...